Blog Archives

2017 was quite the film (and TV!) watching year for me. I got really obsessed with a lot of things and I watched more films this year than I have in a few years. After the cut you can see all 628 new-to-me films I watched (and you can read my monthly breakdowns here). This year was filled with a lot highlights both in terms of what I watched, but also places I visited and people I met. Here’s hoping 2018 will be even better!

I watched way too many movies in July. Not only did I watch a lot of new-to-me films, I also did a ton of rewatching. This uptick in movie watching had a few factors: 1) holy wow we had a lot of good films on TCM last month! 2) I use movies to cope when I am stressed and current events are making me very stressed. 3) I broke my foot, so I stayed in a lot. As always, you can see all the films I watched in July after the cut, as well as some of my favorite first time watches.

George: Why don’t you tell them the truth! Why don’t you tell them we’re a million miles from civilization with no chance of getting out of here alive. It’s slow starvation, that’s what it is! A slow horrible death!Gloria: [Hysterical laughter] Well, that’s perfect. Just perfect. What a kick I’m going to get out of this. A year ago, a doctor gave me six months to live — that was a year ago! I’m already six months to the good. I’m on velvet! I haven’t got a thing to lose! But you, you the noble animals of the human race, what a kick I’m going to get out of watching you squirm for a change! What a kick! [Hysterical laughter]

Paula: Smithy.Smithy: What is it?Paula: But, darling, you proposed to me and I’ve accepted you. . .Smithy: What’s wrong? What’s wrong?Paula: Smithy, do I always have to take the initiative? You’re supposed to kiss me, darling.

I first saw this movie a few years back on TCM and it destroyed me. I saw it recently at the Castro Theatre and I guess I had forgotten a few things about it because there were whole plot twists I didn’t remember and it destroyed me all over again. If you haven’t seen this film before, beware I will be discussing some of the film’s major plot twists. Random Harvest came out the same year as arguably Greer Garson’s most famous film – Mrs. Miniver – as such, she was nominated (an won) Best Actress for playing the titular role in that film, and was ineligible to be nominated for her performance in this film. Regardless, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, though it failed to win any: Best Score, Best B&W Art Direction, Best Writing Screenplay (this was a third category, and is not analogous to the Best Original or Best Adapted Screenplay categories we have now), Best Supporting Actress Susan Peters, Best Actor Ronald Coleman, Best Director Mervyn LeRoy and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were 49th Parallel, Kings Row, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, The Pride of the Yankees, The Talk of the Town, Wake Island, Yankee Doodle Dandy and winner Mrs. Miniver.